Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-05-28

1Are you sure, she said, "tnat you mean
all this? mean sometimes people say things
of sudden, upon an impulse, and then after
ward they wish that they never had been
said. If that was so it would be rather awk-
ward, supposing l were to say yes you
know" ff-sf4'
aOf course 1 am sure" he said, indig-
nantly.
"You see,n went on Bessie, poking at the
sod wall with the stick she had in her hand,
aperhaps in this place you might be putting
an exaggerated value on me- You think am
pretty because you see nobody hut kaffr and
Boer women, and il would be the same with
everything. I'm not fit to marry man like
You" she went on, with a sudden burst Of
distress; II have never seen anything or any
body. am nothing but an ignorant, half
educated farmer girl, with nothing to recon-
mend me, and no fortune except my looks.
You are different to me; you are man OF
the world. and if ever you went back to Eng
land | should be drag on you, and you
would be ashamed of me and my colonial
ways. II it had been jess now, it would have
been different, for she has more brains in her
little finger than have in my whole body"
Somehow the mention of jess Jared upon
cold wind on hot day. He wanted to put
jess out of his mind just now. ea-g
"My dear Bessie" he broke in, "why do you
suppose such thiBgsl l can assure you that
if you appeared in London drawing room
you would put most Of the women in it into
the shade Not that there is much chance of
my frequenting London drawing rooms
again" he added.
"Oh, yes, may be good looking don't
say that | am not; but can't you understand
l don't want you to marry me just because l
am a pretty woman, as the kaff1rs marry
their wives. If you marry Inc at all want
you to marry me because you care for me,
the real me-not my eyes and my hair. Oh,
don't know what to answer you'll don't,
indeed" and she began to cry softly.
Bessie, dear Bessiel" said John, who was
pretty well beside himself by this time, "just
tell me honestiy-do you care about me9 l
am not worth much, l know, but if you do,
all this just goes for nothing" and he took
her hand and drew her toward him, so that
she half slipped, half got off the sod wall and
stood face to face with him, for she was tall
woman, and they were very nearly Of a
height.
lNiCe Sic DtStutilui eyes 10 10
answer and twice her courage failed her, and
then at last the truth broke from her almost
| with cry:
"Oh, John, love you with all my hearth"
And now think that we may drop veil
over the rest of these proceedings, for there
are some things that should be sacred, even
| from the pen of the historian and the first
| transports of the love of pure woman is one
| of them
| Suffice it to say that they sat there side by
| side on that sod wall and were as happy as
| people ought to be under such circumstances,
| till the glory departed from the western sky
and the world grew cold and pale, till the
night came down and hid the mountains, and
only the stars and they were left to look out
across the dusky distances of the wilderness
| of plain
Meanwhile very different scene was being
enacted up at the house, half mile away
Not more than ten minutes after John and
his lady love had departed on that fatefnl
walk to look at the young trees, Frank MuL
| ler's stalwart form, mounted on his great
black horse, was to be seen lesurely advanc-
ing toward the blue gum avenue Jant je was
| lurking about between the stems of the trees
| in the peculiar fashion that is characteristic
of the Hottentot, and which Doubtless is bred
into him after tens of centuries of tracking
animals and hiding from foes There he was,
| slipping from trunk to trunk and gazing
round him as though he expected each instant
to discover The assegai of an ambushed foe or
to hear the football of some savage beast OF
| prey There was absolutely no reason why
he should be carrying on in this fashion; he
was simply INDUCING his natural instincts
where he thought nobody would observe him.
Life at Mooifontein was altogether too tame
and civilized for Jantje's taste. and he abso
lutely needed periodical recreations of this sort
Like a civilized child be longed for wild
beasts and enemies, and if there were mont
handy he found a reflected satisfaction il
making a pretenSe Of their presence
. Presently, however while they were vet {
long way off, his quick ear caught the sount
of the horses footballs, and he Strengthened
himself and listened. Not satisfied with tn,
results he laid himself down, put his ear t.
the ground and gave gutteral grunt of sat
iSfaCtion.